Seelisberg Tunnel
The Seelisberg Tunnel is a motorway tunnel in Switzerland. The tunnel links Beckenried, in the canton of Nidwalden, with Seedorf, in the canton of Uri, running under the mountains that form the south shore of Lake Lucerne. It forms part of the A2 motorway between Basel, on the border with Germany and France, and Chiasso, on the border with Italy. Completed in 1980, the twin bores of the tunnel are 9,250 metres (30,350 ft) and 9,292 metres (30,486 ft) in length.[1]
 North portal of the Seelisberg Tunnel | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Location | Nidwalden/Uri, Switzerland |
| Coordinates | 46°56′49″N 8°32′59″E |
| Status | Active |
| Route | A2 motorway |
| Start | Beckenried |
| End | Seedorf |
| Operation | |
| Opened | 1980 |
| Character | road |
| Technical | |
| Length | 9,250 metres (30,350 ft) 9,292 metres (30,486 ft) |
| No. of lanes | 4 |
After the Gotthard Road Tunnel, this is Switzerland's second-longest road tunnel but unlike the Gotthard Tunnel which crosses the Alps completely north to south, the Seelisberg Tunnel is situated only in the northern side of Alps. The Seelisberg tunnel can be considered to be the longest Swiss Road tunnel with split traffic (Southbound in one bore, and Northbound in another one).
Proponents for a second Gotthard Road Tunnel bore refer to the Seelisberg Tunnel, which they claim, due to split traffic, results in not only smoother traffic, but blocked traffic only on one side in the case of an accident inside the tunnel. However, opponents of the second Gotthard Road Tunnel have indicated that such measure would severely hinder the strategy of the transfer of marchandise from road to rail.
Furthermore, in terms of safety, it might be worth noticing, that despite the fact that the Seelisberg Tunnel, is much shorter in length (9 km) as opposed to the Saint Gotthard Tunnel (16 km) and that it carries far less traffic than the Saint Gotthard Tunnel, according to the Swiss Federal statistics, more than double of the accidents have occurred in the Seelisberg Tunnel than the Gotthard Tunnel.
Furthermore, since the death toll in both tunnels seems to be comparable by federal statistics which indicate a death toll of one death per 104 million vehicles kilometers in the Saint Gotthard Tunnel as opposed to one death per 111 million vehicles kilometers in the Seelisberg tunnel, this measure cannot be justified on the basis of safety. To this date it might be worth noticing that there is no split traffic road tunnel that crosses the European alps.
References
- "Seelisberg Tunnel (Beckenried/Seedorf, 1980)". structurae.net. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
